Find the Secret
by HallowedRider
Summary: The Moon Pool failed to transform Marcus. He and the others have continued their lives, though no one was certain why the Pool failed to work. Everything seems to be going well in spite of the failure, until one day the Mermaid Council unexpectedly decides to temporarily leave Mako. For years. Leaving Marcus alone back on the island once more.
1. Chapter 1

He had paddled out to just past where the waves began to form and was now straddling his surfboard, watching the land though his thoughts were elsewhere. It was late evening and Marcus had just finished closing up David's shop after a very busy day. Busier than usual anyways, which was saying something. Since school had gone on break more students and more families had frequented the bar, which made for a very hectic working schedule particularly since it was only Carly, Marcus, and David who worked there. But Marcus welcomed the business with open arms. It kept him from brooding too heavily on what had happened the night that he and Chris had jumped into the Moon Pool.

Marcus was pulled from his reverie when a particularly early wave began to push his board forward. Without even considering the action or attempting to pull off of the wave Marcus laid onto his stomach and effortlessly caught the wave, transitioning smoothly to his feet with the ease that only hundreds of hours of practice could bring about. It wasn't a particularly strong wave, or even a very tall one at that, but it served to distract him from his thoughts for a bit. Just as the wave was about to crash Marcus began to veer off, but it was at that moment that his board did something rather odd. He had been angling to the right and moving along the wave at a fairly good pace when the board simply stopped dead in the water. Marcus was sent tumbling head over heel into the water, and was then sent for another loop as the wave crashed over him. He swallowed an inadvertent mouthful of saltwater and came up choking and coughing, wiping the water out of his eyes. He immediately searched out his board and his gaze quickly fell upon the fiberglass. It was floating gently right outside the waves' reach, but it was not alone. Leaning on the board with her head resting on her crossed arms was a small blonde haired very young mermaid.

Marcus suppressed a groan and began to swim to his board. When his hand touched the fiberglass he raised his head and glared at her. He very pointedly pulled his board away from her and at the same time pushed her off with one finger in the center of her forehead. "Neptina." He said her name like a good natured curse, rolling his eyes simultaneously. "I assume that you are the one responsible for my board's lack of cooperation?"

"Sure am." She beamed at him with pride. "We just started controlling objects in water last week at Mermaid school!"

"Lucky me." Marcus sighed. He swung himself onto his board and straddled it even as he stared down as Neptina. "So, to what do I owe this unexpected intrusion?"

"Ondina said that I could find you here." Neptina answered brightly.

"That woman." Marcus had to fight off a smile in spite of himself. "So what exactly did you want to find me for?"

"Can you take me to the café please?" Neptina asked hopefully. "I'm really thirsty."

Marcus stared down at her incredulously. "You… interrupted my 'me' time… because you wanted me to make you juice. You do understand that I just got _off_ work only a couple hours ago, right? I really don't want to go back."

"Please?" Neptina asked him piteously, her green eyes shining in a silent plea.

Marcus worked his jaw several times and then sighed, relenting. "Fine, fine." He muttered. "Meet me on shore."

"Oh, I can help!" Neptina said brightly, raising her hand out of the water.

Marcus paled, all too aware that the young mermaid's control on magic was lacking at best. "No, Neptina, that's fine I can-." What he could do however was lost to the wind as his board suddenly rocketed out from beneath him and made a beeline for the beach. He caught himself before he went under and watched as the surfboard skipped across the waves and then up the beach about a hundred yards. Marcus very slowly turned to Neptina and fixed her with a malevolent glare. The young mermaid looked suitably abashed and dove beneath the water without a word, her tail kicking up a splash of water that had Marcus wiping water from his eyes again.

When he finally made it to shore he found a very remorseful looking Neptina standing just out of the way of the surf with his board held in her hands. "I'm sorry." She told him sincerely, offering him his board which he moodily snatched away from her. "I was just trying to help."

"Yeah, well, you are still learning." Marcus said grumpily. He marched up to where his bag rested and immediately set to toweling himself off. When he was relatively dry he picked up his phone and hit the speed dial button. The phone rang several times before an automated message telling him that the person could not be reached played. When the machine beeped Marcus clicked his tongue several times. "You know, I am almost certain that I told you that I was coming here for a bit of me time. In fact I know I did. Which begs the question, why on earth did you send this small devil after me?"

"Hey!" Neptina said indignantly. She opened her mouth to say more but Marcus's scowl effectively cut her off.

"Anyways, give me a shout back when you get this. We have got to discuss the concept of 'me' time." Marcus ended the call and then turned his attention back on Neptina. Thanks to Rita all the younger mermaids had been given their own set of land clothes for occasions such as this. "Alright, here is how this is going to go. There will be no tails grown on this trip, are we clear?"

"Of course!" Neptina said happily.

"Well then," Marcus slung his bag over one shoulder and tucked his board under the opposite arm. "Come on. It's getting late and I don't want Rita complaining to me about coming home late. Again."

"Ondina says that last time you got in trouble was your fault." Neptina told him as they walked up the beach and towards the town.

"She's the one who wanted to go to the coral beds." Marcus immediately argued. He paused and glared at Neptina suspiciously. "How much did she tell you?"

"She said that you two had a very lovely swim." Neptina said brightly. She looked at Marcus curiously and asked, "What? Was it not lovely?"

"Oh, it was very lovely." Marcus quickly reassured her. "I just retain that us being late was her fault. She kept looking for some special sort of coral for something or other."

"Yeah, Ondina has been in a bit of an odd mood lately." Neptina nodded in agreement. "She's been looking for all these odd plants and stones and stuff. And she has been asking around about old mermaid lore and stuff too from the older mermaids on the council. She won't say what for though."

"She's been acting fine around me…" Marcus's voice trailed off, his mind working furiously on the problem. Now that Neptina brought it up, Ondina had been acting a bit off. "Hm. Is anything going on with the pod?"

When Neptina didn't answer, Marcus glanced over at her and his eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion. Neptina had the distinct look of a person with a secret who had let a bit of the secret slip. "N-no." Neptina said a tad late. "Nothing at all. Nope. Not a thing."

"Neptina…" Marcus said warningly. "You better tell me."

He stopped and turned to stare at her. Neptina stopped as well. She looked up at him and then fled back into the sea. Marcus watched her dive into the water and disappear below the waves before rolling his eyes skyward and then turning back to town. The young mermaid was most likely already very far away from him and he had no hope of catching her without a tail. Muttering about how much he disliked secrets, Marcus walked all the way back to Rita's house in a sour mood. He set his board against the side of the house and walked inside, glaring at Poseidon as he passed the fluffy white cat. Poseidon merely gazed back at him with as much contempt as a cat could muster. Since Marcus had moved into Rita's house his relationship with the fluffy white cat had gone through a series of dips and dives. It was currently on a particularly deep dive as the cat had recently eaten a goldfish that Marcus had bought to add a bit of life to his room. Marcus had actually caught the cat in the act and Poseidon had merely strolled out of the room with his tail in the air and the fishy prize in its mouth. In retaliation Marcus had thrown Poseidon into the sea entrance in Rita's hidden grotto. The cat had yowled and hissed at Marcus while it swam to the edge. Rita had scolded the two of them at first, but eventually she had actually grown rather used to the constant battles between feline and human. Something that Marcus was not at all happy about.

He quickly shed off his wet surfing clothes and replaced them with a pair of simple gray sweatpants and a white T-shirt. "Rita?" He called as he exited his room, closing it behind him with a suspicious glare at Poseidon. Not that it would do any good. He had actually locked his door before, but somehow the cat still managed to get into his room. He had yet to actually figure out how the cat had done it, but he had resolved to figure it out as soon as possible. Upon hearing no response from the mermaid, he made his way down to her secret grotto and was not at all surprised to find her sitting there with the picture of her and her deceased lover on her lap. The first time that Marcus had seen her like this he had not been sure how to approach her. After a few times he decided that dwelling on the past had never done anyone good. "How's it going Rita?" He asked kindly, silently descending the last of the steps.

Rita's head shot up and she smiled tiredly at him. She set the picture down on the table and fixed him with a stern look and a friendly smile. "You know, I asked you to not sneak up on me."

"I didn't sneak this time." Marcus protested. "Anyways. I have a question. What's going on with the pod?"

Rita looked at him startled and then sighed. She patted the seat beside her and said, "Sit down Marcus. It's about time you knew."

"Knew what?" He asked, a feeling of dread washing over him.

"Knew that the pod is leaving Mako." Rita told him somberly. "They are going to take the young mermaids out so that they can see more of the world's oceans before they get their Moon Rings. They will be gone for several years."


	2. Departure

He didn't want to believe it, he didn't even want to contemplate whether or not he _should_ believe it. It just… it couldn't be happening. And yet it was. The pod was leaving Mako for who knew how long. And Marcus was going to be left behind, a land boy who no longer had any place in their world. Or, at least, the one they were about to set out and explore.

After Rita had explained the pod's decision to him, to leave Mako so that the young mermaids could gain some perspective on the outside world and thus increase their mental growth, he had silently swept out of the grotto. He had not offered a word to her as she had spoken to him, her words kind and reassuring. And yet, at the same time, damning. Marcus had simply began to walk after he had listened to the older mermaid speak. And he had kept walking. He wasn't sure where he was going, he had no direction after all, but he simply wanted to be on the beach. He wasn't sure how long he walked, or how far, but his walking came to a sudden stop when he came to a realization. He didn't know how Ondina felt about the leave, she hadn't told him about it after all, but he was certain of one thing: she had to go. She couldn't stay here with him, away from those who cared for her. She might care for him, might even love him, but he could not take her away from her family. That had been the reason that he had agreed to letting them try to turn him with the Moon Pool after all. But it had failed.

That night swam in his memories, coming to the forefront of his mind. He and Chris had fallen into the waters simultaneously, but that was where their journey together ended. Chris immediately began to sink, the water of the Moon Pool already taking hold on him and changing him from man to merman. But Marcus had not been so fortunate. The waters scalded his flesh as though it was boiling and an overwhelming sense of not belonging filled his mind. He dragged himself to the stone edge and pulled himself free, wiping off the burning water as fast as he possibly could. That was where the group had found him, huddled in the corner of the cavern with angry red burns covering his skin.

In the days following he had been given dozens upon dozens of explanations as to why the chamber had affected him as such, from many different sources. Rita and Ondina had consulted all of the mermaid and merman books they could find and then some. Even Veridia and the mermaid council offered their advice, though they were less than unhelpful. But Marcus knew that they were all wrong. The overwhelming sense of not belonging the Moon Pool had imparted in him left him with no doubt: he was not meant to be a merman. And the Pool would not allow him to be one.

For weeks and weeks he had entertained Ondina's quest to turn him into a merman, even braving the chamber time and time again, but it continually failed. Now that he knew about the pod's intent to leave her manic desire to transform him made sense, but each time he subjected himself to the Moon Pool the effects and the burning only got worse. After a time, defeated, even Ondina gave up trying and only perused the books and the lore on occasion.

"Maybe I should have let her keep trying." Marcus muttered, kicking viciously at the sand. "Maybe…" But he stopped himself there. Had they kept trying who knew what have befallen him? Or what the Moon Pool would have done to him?

"So… I suppose that Rita told you?" Ondina's sweet and familiar voice filled with sadness was almost enough to bring Marcus to his proverbial knees. But he steeled himself before slowly turning around and facing her.

She was wearing a lilac blue dress that he had gotten her a while ago to celebrate her ascension to the mermaid council and her choice in wearing the garment to this particular conversation was not lost on Marcus. He took a steadying breath and nodded. "Yeah. When do you leave?" He asked finally.

"Marcus, I don't-." Ondina began, taking a step forward.

He raised a hand and took a step backwards. "I'm…. Just… How long, Ondina? How long?"

"Tomorrow." She said softly.

He had often scoffed at the thought that words could actually cause physical harm, but that single word drove the breath from his lungs like a blow to the ribs. He struggled momentarily to get his breath back before continuing. "T-tomorrow?" He said, his voice a near whisper. "You leave tomorrow? And you didn't… didn't warn me?"

"I didn't want… I didn't want you to worry about me leaving." She said uncomfortably, wringing her hands together.

"What about preparing myself?" Marcus demanded. "I… You… You have had who knows how long to prepare for this. I haven't! I've been… I've been assuming that we had so much more time! And then… this."

"I understand that you are upset Marcus, I do!" Ondina told him miserably, taking another step forward.

Marcus retreated back several steps like a wounded animal. "No, stay back!" He snapped. Her sudden appearance had momentarily caused him to forget the promise that he had made himself, but now that he remembered it he braced himself. "You don't get it, do you? You don't see how messed up it is that… that this is happening. That you didn't tell me that you would have to leave!"

"That's why I wanted you to become a merman so badly!" Ondina countered. "So that you could come with us! The others want you to come as well!"

Marcus slowly looked up from where his gaze had dropped to the sand and Ondina took a step back when she beheld his gaze. His eyes were hard and his jaw was set in a stern angry line. "You should have told me that we were doomed to fail from the beginning." He told her simply. "That, eventually, you would have to leave. That, eventually, you would break my heart."

Now it was Ondina's turn to be hurt by words. She looked at him in horror and dismay, but Marcus was not finished yet. "Was this just fun for you?" He asked coldly. "Us? Dating a landboy? I mean, I see the appeal. Eric broke your heart. Maybe you thought dating a landboy would have been better. Easier. Someone you could leave at a moment's notice."

She couldn't even speak to defend herself, though Marcus clearly saw that she desperately wanted to. He knew that his words were false, that she truly cared about him and loved him, but he also knew that this was the only way. Rita had told him that Ondina had told the mermaid council that she was considering not leaving. That was probably the reason for her wearing that dress and coming to find him. She wanted to ask him what he thought. And he couldn't be the one who pulled her away from her family like he had been pulled from his. He would not. And if that meant breaking not only her heart but his own, he was fine with that. No matter the cost, her happiness was what mattered most to him. Above all else.

Ondina slowly began to back up until her bare foot touched the surf. Without a look back she turned on the spot just as the magic that gave her tail back began to emerge and dove into the sea. Marcus watched her go, his cold expression stuck on his face until he was certain that she was gone. He looked out over the water, desperate to see her once more, but she was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, like someone had replaced his blood with lead, Marcus began to walk back towards Rita's house. His cold expression melted away as he walked and gave way to a grief-stricken, sorrow-filled one. A single tear dripped down his face, but that was the only one he would allow. He knew that his actions were for the best, no matter how badly he had hurt Ondina and himself. She would be happiest with her family, with those that were like her and could truly understand her.

Rita was sitting on the porch when he got back to the house. She evidently had something to say to him, but one look at his face effectively silenced her and returned her to gazing out over the sea. She understood, after all, just how hard the pod leaving would be on someone. Particularly if the pod leaving took away something precious from someone.


	3. Trick Room

It was a curious thing, being alone for the first time in a very long time. It was made even more curious because Marcus was used to being alone. Having been with the other for a long time and to be on his own once more made him… uneasy.

True to what Ondina had told him, the pod had left Mako the day after she and Marcus had broken up. Zac, Evie, Mimi, Sirena, Chris, and even Rita had gone with them. That had been something that Marcus had not expected, especially since she had not said anything to him at all. He had awoken the next morning, although gotten out of bed might have been a better term as he had slept only an hour. Rita had left him a long written note on the kitchen's counter, detailing their approximate time they were going to be gone and what Marcus had to do in the meantime. The letter had been several pages long, though two of them were daily chores that had to be done around the house and in the hidden grotto. He was momentarily concerned about the house's payments, but Rita had evidently taken care of that as well with an automatic bill paying system. Marcus had to admit that the Principal had thought everything out very well. The last page of the letter had been the most interesting for Marcus.

 _Marcus,_ Rita had written, _I am sorry that I had to tell you all of this via letter. I wanted to speak to you last night when you returned but…. I feel like that would have been the wrong time. I haven't yet spoken with Ondina or any of the others, but I can imagine that you did speak to her. I can also imagine the way that the conversation went, judging by the expression you had upon your return. For what it's worth, I think you did the right thing. I know you must be hurt, even angry, but you did the right thing. I knew that Ondina was considering staying behind, but that would only have led to her unhappiness. A mermaid should be with her pod, I know that better than anyone. You did the right thing, Marcus. Understand that. I know that things will be difficult with the pod being gone, especially since you are so used to it all. I truly wish that you were joining us. I searched everywhere for some way to change you into one of us again, but I found nothing in all my efforts. I am sorry. Even the council was clueless. But, I suppose everything happens for a reason. If you decide to move on before our return, please make sure that someone continues to feed Poseidon for me. If not, I look forward to seeing you upon our return._

 _Be well. Goodbye for now,_

 _Rita._

Poseidon had wandered through the house the first couple days, yowling and searching for Rita most likely. Eventually the cat had given up its search and had taken to sulking in the grotto, much to Marcus's displeasure as that was where he had decided to spend the majority of his time when he wasn't working. He had taken solace in his work, at least until David's sadness had begun to affect him. The café owner was distraught, to put it lightly. For every bit that Marcus was upset about the pod leaving, David was devastated. Where he had been a constant smiling and bright individual, after the pod's departure he had grown gloomy and dismal. More than often he would call Marcus to work his shift, even if he had only just left. This had gone on for perhaps a week before Marcus had had enough. One day after work, a day that David actually showed up, Marcus grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Listen, to me." Marcus said in a low voice. The sun had long since set by then and the moon was glowing brightly. Marcus slowly raised one hand and pointed at the full moon even while the other was full of the startled David's shirt. "You see that? Full moon."

"What about it?" David asked dully. He gave a pathetic attempt at getting Marcus to release him but it was futile. Marcus's grip only grew tighter and David gave up, his eyes as lifeless as his voice. "It's a full moon."

Marcus stared at him with enough intensity that a bystander would have worried for David's sake. "How much do you know about the Moon Pool? How much did Sirena tell you?"

David's expression grew almost impossibly sadder and Marcus had to suppress a sigh. "Not much." He said finally. "Just that it was the source of the mermaid's power."

"Anything else?" Marcus asked.

"No, not really." David gave a half-hearted shrug and Marcus slowly released him.

"You still have that tinny?" Marcus asked after a brief moment of contemplation. If David didn't know about the Pool, then the hasty plan Marcus had just thought up had an even greater chance of success. "I think I have a way for you to talk to Sirena."

The way that David immediately lit up with hope was almost comical, and Marcus would have laughed if his own heart wasn't so distraught. He might be able to help David, but he couldn't help himself. But David didn't deserve this. And neither did Sirena. David might have initially turned down being transformed, but Marcus was certain that he would have reconsidered had he known about the mermaid's departure. This pale imitation that was now David was not something that Marcus could stand for much longer. "How?" David asked immediately, his eyes shining with hope. "Where?"

"Mako." Marcus smiled at him. But it never reached his eyes. "There's a cave actually. Come on, grab your boat, I will show you."

The speed at which David readied his boat and had them on their way to Mako was astonishing. The ride to Mako was silent, though the occupants' thoughts were leagues apart. Marcus was sure that David's thoughts were filled with the idea of speaking to his love again, trusting as he was. He most likely had not even considered _how_ Marcus was going to facilitate the communication. Marcus on the other hand was simply hopeful that the door into the chamber room had not disappeared. He doubted that he could find his way into the Moon Pool through the sea entrance, or even if he could hold his breath long enough. He had gotten better from his swims with Ondina, and he was certain that Sirena and David had gone on many a similar swim which meant that his breath holding ability was probably better. David beached the metal boat by simply running it up the beach much to Marcus's annoyance. If all went well then he would be the one who had to get it back into the water, a task better suited to two people at a minimum. "Come on, let's hurry!" David said, leaping onto the sand and looking back eagerly for Marcus. "Come on mate!"

Marcus rolled his eyes and took the lead, setting the pace at a light jog just in case. David kept up with him easily enough and soon enough they were at the stone entrance into the chamber above the Moon Pool. "Is this it?" David asked, gazing curiously at the hole in the stone.

"That's right." Marcus said casually, striding into the tunnel and leaving David to hurry in after him. "Right through here."

"So why didn't you mention this earlier?" David asked, his voice now slightly uncertain.

"Because it only works for the full moon." Marcus lied casually. "And it has to be a clear night. I didn't know if the clouds would be out tonight so I didn't want to get your hopes up."

"Makes sense." David said happily, buying the lie completely. Marcus heard him stop when they reached the end of the tunnel where it opened up into the room with the blue trident symbol carved into the wall. "Is… is this it?" His voice was hushed now, almost worryingly.

"That's right." Marcus lounged casually against the wall, his arms crossed. He wasn't sure what the range of the liquid floor was when the trident was touched, but he had no intention of dropping into the Moon Pool and being scalded again. "Just touch that trident and say her name and you should be good to go."

"Why don't you go first?" David asked, his voice warm. "I know that you want to speak to Ondina."

Marcus felt his heart throb uncomfortably and his throat momentarily closed. He pushed down the sudden feelings through sheer force of will and forced a smile. _More than you know._ He thought quietly. To David however he laughed and shrugged. "Yeah, but I can wait. We have all night so just don't take too long talking to Sirena alright?"

David smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't suppose you would mind giving me a few minutes in private?"

"No problem." Marcus laughed. He gestured to the wall and said, "Just make the call first. I want to see how it works too. I'm just following what Ondina told me."

"Do I just touch it, or do I keep pressing it?" David asked, examining the faintly glowing symbol and reaching one hand out.

"Just touch it and step back." Marcus informed him, backing up a step just to be certain.

Even the best plans have the tendency to go awry at the last possible moment. David touched the symbol as instructed but instead of taking the step back that Marcus recommended, he leapt back several feet. He leapt back so far in fact that he nearly bumped into Marcus had he gone another foot back. "What now?" David asked, turning to face Marcus.

"Of-freaking-course." Marcus muttered. The clueless land boy had somehow managed to completely avoid the water floor and thus had ruined Marcus's plan. While David was turning Marcus firmly placed his hands on his shoulder and shoved him as hard as he could. David went tumbling head first through the floor, the last Marcus saw of him being the confused and startled expression David shot him. The floor shimmered like the ocean for several more minutes before it stilled. "Why am I not surprised that he ruined my plan?" Marcus wondered off-handedly as he wandered his way out of the chamber.

He contemplated being worried about David, but dismissed it. He himself had gone through the transformation alone and came out completely alive. Breathing underwater might be a bit scary, but David should understand what happened fairly quickly. He would certainly know _who_ had caused his change at the very least. "And he better be grateful." Marcus muttered, exiting the tunnel. "Lucky devil."

"Lucky because he can become what you can't?" A vaguely familiar voice asked from Marcus's right. Marcus glanced over and saw the familiar bronze hair of Erik glinting softly in the moonlight. "Or lucky because he will see the woman he loves while you have to live with the fact that you convinced her that you can't stand her?"

"Erik." Marcus said, his voice as dull as David's had been at the café. "What did you want?"

"Oh, I think you and I should have a long talk." He said with a slight grin.


	4. Disaster

"Is that what you think?" Marcus asked heavily, crossing his arms and sighing. "And what gave you that impression?"

"You are the only one left." Erik shrugged and smiled again.

"Pretty sure Carly and Cam are still here, unless they somehow grew tails as well." Marcus countered airily. "I think. Haven't actually seen them in a couple weeks."

"Like I said; the only one left." Erik's expression grew sympathetic. "I know it must be hard, being left behind."

"Is this where you try to convince me to help you find a way to activate the merman's chamber? In exchange for getting my tail back?" Marcus asked, staring up at the moon.

"No, I'm done with the merman chamber." Erik said quietly. "I just wanted to make sure that you were as well. I… I know how much of a temptation it must have been. You are a better man than me, I couldn't resist it."

"Don't worry about me." Marcus said flatly. "Why the sudden concern?"

"Because I'm leaving too." Erik said with a slight wince, almost as though he didn't like saying the words. "There's… nothing left for me here. None of the pod trusts me. Ondina, Zac, Cam… they don't really like me anymore either. So I figure there's no point in hanging around."

Marcus had no animosity towards Erik, and his genuine sadness touched him. "Where are you going to go?" He asked.

"No idea." Erik shrugged. "Mermen move around a lot, never really staying in one place too long. Maybe I'll go check out the Northern Pods. See if any of them have moved past their distrust of mermen."

No stranger to moving around a lot and not calling any place home, Marcus sighed. "Alright, here, it's not much but it's something. I own an island-." And so Marcus went on to inform Erik of where he could find his private island and told the merman that he was always welcome there. After Marcus finished speaking Erik simply look at him with genuine gratitude and thanked him before turning and marching back into the jungle and presumably into the ocean. Marcus watched him walk away until the bronze haired man disappeared from view. After that he very slowly picked his own way down to the beach, heading in the opposite direction of Erik.

There was a moment of confusion when Marcus stepped onto the sand and saw the boat gently bobbing in the waves a few yards off shore. He immediately thought that the tide must have risen, but he then remembered that the tide was in fact going out. It took him only moments to put the connection together in his mind. A slight smile sprang to his face and Marcus shook his head once. "Thanks, Erik." He said aloud, knowing that the merman was more than likely far away from the island and certainly out of earshot. He waded through the water and pulled himself into the boat, starting the outboard and gunning the watercraft back towards the mainland.

As Marcus had expected David was not at work the next day. The former merman arrived at the café to a note from David expressing his eternal gratitude followed by several instructions as to what he should do with the shop in David's absence. "Great." Marcus muttered, reading over the note again before carefully folding it and putting it into his pocket. "House-keeper. Shop-keeper. Cat-keeper. That's it, I'm done helping people. And I'm including merpeople in that. Stupid fish."

But Marcus nonetheless began to run the café from that day on. He often wondered just how David was planning on finding Sirena and the pod, but it was far too late to attempt to dissuade him. Mostly because he had no idea as to where in the ocean he was, and even if he did he wasn't exactly sure how he could reach him. David, while new to being a merman, was not stupid. He would know enough to not expose the secret for the purpose of asking directions. Adjusting to being the café manager and the only one who worked there, Carly had temporarily taken a leave of absence in order to spend more time with Cam, was enough to keep Marcus's mind busy. Several times a week he considered hiring extra help but he always decided against it as it reminded him too much of throwing in the towel and giving up. Even as physically and mentally taxing as it was, running the café and being the sole employee was not impossible. That being said, there were still far more days that Marcus left the café well after dark than days when he left with the sun still in the sky. But the business served its purpose. Marcus was almost always too busy to dwell on his lost friends and all that he had lost and if he wasn't busy he would find something to do. It took an unsurprisingly large amount of effort to keep the café in running order. But even with all of his efforts, returning home every night proved to be its own challenge. He and Poseidon remained on decent terms. So long as Marcus fed the cat and did not throw him off of any surfaces the evil white feline maintained an air of civility and refrained from eating any more of Marcus's pet fish. It was a shaky arrangement as the two were predisposed to dislike one another, but it was an arrangement nonetheless. When Marcus stepped through the door his routine was almost always the same. He would take a shower, throw on his customary night time clothes, and then make his way downstairs into the hidden grotto. From there he would attempt to organize the chaos that was Rita's assembled treasure horde. At first he had simply begun to organize the treasure based on its metal and gemstones, but he finished with that task after a week or so. After that he had begun to organize them with much more detail. He had purchased several plastic bins and shelves and had quickly labeled them.

After one such night, satisfied that he was nearly finished his month long project, Marcus wearily dragged himself to the café early in the morning so that he could open up on time. He rubbed his eyes as he fumbled for the keys and became aware of a sensation of being watched. He slowly turned his head around and received an adrenaline shock when he saw three pairs of eyes staring back at him. He tumbled through the door, barely catching himself on a chair as he whirled around to face the newcomers. Now that he had a clear view of them he recognized them as girls from his school. "Maggie, Amber, Jess, what are you doing?" Marcus demanded, running a hand through his hair. "Are you deliberately trying to give me a heart attack? If so, props to you because you are doing a bang up job."

It was only then that Marcus saw the worry and borderline panic on their faces. He immediately cut off his joking and frowned at them. "You lot alright?"

"Y-yeah." Jess said, clearly unsettled by something. "Fine. Hey, I know it's early, but can we come in and just sit down?"

"Yeah, sure," Marcus shrugged and jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the back of the store. "I'll be in the back if you need me. I haven't started the machines yet, but did you want me to bring you guys some water-?"

"NO!" All three shouted in unison, looking as though they were about to flee the store.

"Okay, okay!" Marcus said, raising his hands defensively. "No water, got it. Sheesh just trying to be nice."

"Thanks, but we are fine." Maggie said shakily, attempting a smile but only grimacing instead. "Don't worry about us, it was just a… really strange night."

"Oh, really?" Marcus asked, curious despite himself. "How so?"

"Just a girl thing." Amber said, shooting a warning glance at the other two. "We could tell you about it, if you really want to know. It'd be nice to talk to a guy about feminine problems."

It was clearly an attempt to send Marcus away, and not a very good one at that. Marcus recognized it as such and was tempted to call her bluff, but shrugged and made a face. "No thanks." He laughed, waving over his shoulder as he disappeared into the back of the café. Just before he stepped into the walk in refrigerator he heard the girls take a collective breath of relief. "What was that all about?" He wondered, beginning to organize the refrigerator for the day.

As he went about his morning tasks the girls sat huddled together at a back table, their heads bent together as they whispered to one another furiously. Several times Marcus was tempted to try to eavesdrop, but every time that he got within fifteen feet of them they would all turn to stare him down. Such protectiveness only made Marcus want to learn more about what they were so freaked by. He started the machine and flipped the store's sign to open before taking a seat on the counter and flipping through his phone with lazy interest. He had taken to checking his stocks and their performance whenever he was provided a spare moment, and he was pleased to see that they were doing well. His own personal fortune had only grown since his parents had cut ties with him, surely to their chagrin. He had no doubt that they had expected him to come crawling back to them out of necessity. His continual decline to do so could only be grinding their gears, which he was most pleased about. They hadn't even yet reached out to him in any way shape or form, which meant that they had either forgotten about him and his insubordination, or they were so furious they were attempting to test even his stubborn streak. A mistake, and a poor one at that. Marcus was so engrossed in his phone that he completely lost track of the passage of time. Only when he glanced up and saw the sun shining brightly through his doors did he realize how long he had been sitting there. His legs were stiff when he leapt off the counter and they protested their sudden load painfully. Marcus frowned as he beheld the near empty café, confused. It was Saturday and school still had another week before starting. The place should have been packed with beach goers and yet the place was deserted except for Marcus and the three girls. He strode over to the door and pulled on it, expecting to open it and peer outside. Perhaps the beach had been closed for some reason and no one was in the mood to peruse his shop. When the door did not budge however, Marcus blinked in surprise. His surprise only increased when he saw that the sign he was certain he had flipped to 'Open' was back to 'Closed'. He flipped the sign again and unlocked the door, returning to his spot on the counter. He pulled out his phone again, careful to not immerse himself too deeply this time. Customers were sure to arrive now that he had actually opened the shop. He mentally cursed his apparent forgetfulness and shook his head irritably. Another half hour had passed when he looked up in confusion and annoyance and saw that the sign on the door had flipped to 'Closed' once again.

"Okay…" Marcus said slowly, rising from his seat once more. He crossed the café and flipped the sign to open again, rapping the glass three times to ensure that he remembered flipping it open this time for certain. He did not take a seat on the counter this time, electing to lean against the polished wood instead. He glanced over at the girls and saw them turn their glances away from him at the same time. He pulled up his phone and appeared to immerse himself again, all the while keeping an eye on the sign. For several minutes nothing happened and he was beginning to feel annoyed with himself all over, but then all at once the sign suddenly flipped to close seemingly all of its own accord. Very discreetly Marcus darted his eyes over to the girls and he had to work hard to mask his shock when he saw Maggie lower her arm from the side of the table, her hand directed at the sign.

 _Oh no…_ Marcus groaned to himself.


	5. Problem and Solution

After the sign inexplicably flipped itself shut for the last time, Marcus made a show of throwing his hands up in the air as if in defeat and retreating into the backroom to sulk. The instant the door was closed he placed his back against the wall and began massaging his temples with his fingers, hardly daring to believe what he had just seen. Maggie, Jess, and Amber had definitely just used magic. Of that he was absolutely certain. But that made no sense at all! He knew for a fact that they were not part of the pod, he was even more certain that they weren't even mermaids! Or they hadn't been until very recently at the very least. And yet there they were here, using magic when they shouldn't have even known that magic was an actual thing. Marcus's head began to pound and he released a pent up breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. He slid down the wall and closed his eyes, his mind working furiously on the problem at hand. Theoretically it was possible. Evie had been turned into a mermaid, and he himself had been turned into a merman. But the odds that three more girls had simply stumbled across the Moon Pool tunnel entrance were astronomical.

"There's gotta be something going on here." Marcus muttered. It was then that the second problem hit him. He was potentially dealing with three brand new mermaids who had absolutely no clue what they were doing or how they had come to be for that matter. If they weren't careful they could inadvertently reveal their secret, and subsequently all of his friends', to the whole world. "That can't happen." Marcus muttered to himself, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

It was a vexing problem at best. If he approached them, chances are they would deny what they were to the last. And even if they didn't, the chances were that they wouldn't trust him in the slightest. He himself had not trusted the others when he first learned about the secret after all, much less after he had transformed the first time. Not that it mattered, they had figured it out soon enough… Marcus blinked and a small smile began to form on his lips, a plan forming in his mind. Had it not worked for the others? Feigning ignorance in order to better keep an eye on him? Why shouldn't it work for him? Three brand new mermaids wouldn't be that hard for him to keep track of, particularly as they most likely had a very poor hold on their powers. He hoped so anyways. Ondina alone had the tendency to cause trouble with her power whenever the mood struck her, and she was a master of magic. Three new mermaids could potentially cause a snowstorm in the middle of summer if they weren't careful. They would need to be very closely monitored. "Not much time before term starts…" Marcus said quietly, pushing slowly to his feet. A possible solution to his problem, although a very risky one, popped into his head and he examined it for several minutes. He hated the idea of hiring help, but now it was necessary.

He pushed out of the back room and gave a loud theatrical sigh of exasperation. The three in the corner of the café nearly snapped their neck as they turned to face him very rapidly. "You know, I was really hoping for some customers today." He remarked to them, moving to stand behind the bar and throwing a dish towel over one shoulder. He checked his phone and frowned before replacing it in his pocket. "But, hey, them's the breaks right?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Amber said with a wary smile. The other two copied the expression, but their smiles more closely resembled a grimace than an actual show of joy. Marcus did not remark on it, but he rolled his eyes internally. If he managed to keep these three from revealing the secret it would be a miracle, especially with their blatant use of magic. If Ondina or any of the others had seen that they would have had a conniption, best case scenario. The thought of worst case scenario made him shudder. "Did you, um, did you need something?"

"Actually, now that you mention it yes." Marcus said, striding out from across the bar. Despite Maggie's warning glare he took a seat at their table's last available chair. Both she and Jess scooted away from him immediately, their expressions wary of the somewhat damp towel on his shoulder. "I'm actually looking for some people to work here. Since David and Evie and all them went on their vacation or whatever I'm the only one working here."

"And?" Jess asked guardedly.

"And I was wondering if I could offer you three jobs here." Marcus said brightly. He winced comically and shrugged one shoulder. "I don't mind doing everything, but it gets sort of tiring. And with school starting I really can't keep doing it. And I promised David I would do my best to keep this place open every day."

The three girls exchanged looks and Marcus saw their hesitation. It made sense. Gaining tails and adding a job on top of that would certainly be a lot to deal with. But Marcus needed these three to be around him at all times, for their own sakes. He sighed internally yet again and raised an eyebrow at them. "Look, that's really nice of you-." Amber began, her tone apologetic.

"I'll let you have all the time off you want and all days off you take will be paid for, so long as you let me know where you are going." Marcus overrode her, letting a note of desperation enter his voice. He winced and then smiled sheepishly. "I really actually hate managing all of this by myself. Besides, running Evie's shop is hard. I have no idea about sun dresses or anything about fashion really."

The three exchanged looks again and, to Marcus's relief, this time there was some yearning in their eyes. "Paid vacation any time we call out?" Amber repeated skeptically. "What gives?"

"As long as you come in four days a week, minimum, I don't care what you do with the other three days." Marcus shrugged before reiterating, "So long as you let me know what you are doing with your time off. I like to be accountable for my employees."

"So you are just gonna pay us for the entire week?" Jess asked half-disbelievingly and half-skeptically.

Marcus merely smiled at her pleasantly, tipping back slightly in his chair. His financial state as the son of two of the wealthiest people in the world was, thankfully, still a very closely guarded secret. Which totally explained the skepticism he now saw in their eyes. Paying three other full time employees, whom would not be working full time, would not leave much room for profit. "If David has a problem with the way I run the place he can bring it up to me when he gets back." Marcus said with a shrug.

"And you are sure about this?" Amber asked.

"If I wasn't sure I wouldn't hire you." Marcus answered back with genuine sincerity in his voice. This was not an easy sell. He had rarely spoken to these three, and never outside of a school setting. This random attempt at hiring them would surely throw up some red flags, especially with their newfound powers. That was exactly why he had sweetened the deal as much as he had. He would sweeten it more if need be, but too much and they would be just as hesitant as if he had offered them a much worse deal. "But, hey, it's your choice. If you don't want to it's not a big deal. I'll go find some other people."

"No!" Maggie said suddenly, nearly lurching to her feet to grab Marcus's hand as he began to rise from his seat. "We'll take the job! We can start today!"

"Maggie!" Jess and Amber hissed in unison.

Marcus beamed at each of them in turn, ensuring that he met their eyes. "Glad to hear it." He then turned his attention back to the empty café and laughed quietly. "You know, I have a funny feeling no one is going to come in today. I'm going to close early. You can start tomorrow if you'd like."

They quickly ironed out the details of their employment and the four departed the café as one, Marcus hanging back only long enough to close up and set the security system. By the time he finished the three girls had long since been gone. Night had just set and the ocean was only barely visible in the gloom, the waves pushing gently up and down the shoreline. Marcus made his way down to the beach and took a seat on the sand just out of the waves' reach. He gazed out over the flat surface and heaved a sigh. "Never a dull moment." He said softly, as if to the waves. This sitting on the beach and speaking to the waves had become a common enough occurrence since he assisted David in hi transformation. It was therapeutic in a way. "What I wouldn't give to have you guys here." Marcus said, speaking to his friends even though they certainly couldn't hear him.

He sat there for a long time, hours in fact, until his eyelids began to grow heavy. He had thought long and hard about how he could best discern _why_ and _how_ those three had gotten tails, and yet he was no closer than when he had first sat down. In fact he might have been further. Everything he had thought of had only left him with more questions than answers, something he was not at all happy about. He almost wished that Erik was there so that he had someone to speak to, he had decided to keep Cam out of this for as long as possible to give him some time with Carly, but he did not trust the bronze haired merman enough for that. A sudden thought occurred to Marcus and he slowly reached down to check his phone. He had long since downloaded a lunar chart app and he quickly flicked it open. His heart dropped down to his stomach as yet another problem presented itself to him. The next full moon was in thirteen days. He had barely resisted the temptation of his first full moon, and by all accounts mermaids were far more susceptible to the lunar pull. Three unwitting mermaids would be easily drawn to Mako, and in their trancelike state there was no guarantee as to what exactly would happen.

Marcus thought furiously as he walked, his mind turning over the problem in every way he could. He spent the rest of the night mulling it over, sitting on the stone couch in the grotto. When his phone alarm went off, drawing him out of his thoughts, that he finally stood up and staggered up the steps. Another day had begun, and this one promised to be potentially even more dangerous. He couldn't let the café remain closed two days in a row, it wouldn't do for appearances. And appearances were everything, especially when maintaining such facades were tantamount to protecting a secret that three girls had been unknowingly brought into.


	6. First Full Moon

"Hey, Jess, would you mind getting that table over there for me?" Marcus called, busy with the blender as he took another customer's order.

"On it." She called back, gliding through the tables with more caution than a normal waitress. But, then again, she was anything but normal. She painted a smile on her face and Marcus had to grin. The three girls, while it had been a tactical move on his part, were proving to be far better help than he could possibly have hoped.

It had taken a few days for them to accustom themselves, and indeed for Marcus to get used to it as well, but the girls had quickly proven their worth. That's not to say that it wasn't stressful. Every time that they got near a drink Marcus had to push down his desire to remove them from that setting. Thankfully it was only Jess and Maggie he had to worry about on that front. Amber had taken over for Evie's clothing shop and thus was generally far removed from all sources of water.

"Here you go." Jess said, handing him the order and taking a seat at the bar. "I don't suppose that you could make me something too? I'm really thirsty."

"Sure, what'd you want?" Marcus asked, reading the order and then setting to it. "Pineapple-banana as per usual?"

"Your memory really is something." Jess laughed, shaking her head. "You always remember what each of us like."

"It's not really all that special." Marcus shrugged. "You three drink the same thing every day. If I _couldn't_ remember it that would be an issue."

"True that." Jess agreed. Marcus heard her intake of breath signifying that she was about to say something else when Marcus heard the distinctive sound of breaking glass.

He whirled around on the spot and his eyes widened with horror. He quickly took in the scene before him and dread swept through him. A customer had somehow dropped his glass on the floor, the contents of which had splattered outwards when the cup broke. That would not have been an issue if Maggie had not been walking by. Marcus's eyes darted to her legs and he saw that drops of the blue liquid against her bare flesh. _Oh hell._ He thought to himself, his mind racing with possibilities. _She_ cannot _turn here, not with all these people watching._

Evidently the girls had the exact same idea. "I have to go." Maggie said before dropping the glasses in her hand and rushing out the door. The other two exchanged worried glances before rushing out after her, leaving Marcus alone in the bar with the rest of the customers.

"I am _so_ sorry!" The man said fretfully, eyeing the remains of his drink. "My hand slipped, I didn't mean to. Is she okay?"

"She's fine." Marcus said quickly, reassuring the bar as they looked at him curiously. He nodded at the clock, immensely grateful that the hour had was precisely on the six. "Their shift is over. They don't like waiting around."

"So they run out of here like that a lot?" One of the customers, Marcus thought he recognized her as a girl from school, asked him incredulously. "And you don't fire them."

"Good help is hard to find." He shrugged easily. "If keeping them around means that I have to deal with a peculiar way of clocking out, so be it."

"You are, like, the best job ever." One of the guys laughed. "Can I get a job here?"

"Sorry, but I'm not hiring right now." Marcus smiled apologetically. "But, hey, how about a round of free drinks for everyone before I close up for the night?" That drew attention away from their sudden departure and the patrons of his establishment were sufficiently sated.

Thirty minutes later the last customer left the café, leaving Marcus alone with his thoughts. He let his smile slide off his face and breathed a heavy sigh of relief, sitting down at the bar. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. "That could have gone very badly." He muttered to himself, reaching for a glass of water he had poured for himself. He sipped on the water for several minutes in silence before pulling out his phone and tapping on his photo library. The first picture that appeared on his screen was his favorite, for many reasons. It was one of him and Ondina, both of them smiling sheepishly. Ondina's tail was draped over Marcus and he was supporting them both with his arms propped behind his back. Ondina generally didn't let him take pictures of her while she had her tail, but for some reason she had allowed Evie to take this one. "What I wouldn't give to have you here." He said to the picture, feeling only slightly foolish.

The door to the café dinged open and, without looking around, Marcus said, "Sorry, café is closed."

"I know." Amber said, pulling up a seat beside Marcus.

He hastily locked his phone before she could see the picture and turned to her with a slightly nervous grin. "Everything alright?" He asked. "She's not hurt, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jess told him, taking the seat beside him. "Just had to take care of something."

"I figured as much." Marcus shrugged, getting to his feet and busying himself with the post-work clean up. He could already feel his body craving sleep, he had stayed up late again the night before reading up on mermaid lore, but he shoved the tiredness away. "You girls are free to go if you want, I can handle the cleanup for the day."

"Oh, we can help." Jess reassured him. "Actually we were curious about something."

"And what, pray tell, is that?" Marcus asked with a mocking grin. "Is this still about me hiring you? Look, I've told you-."

"No, no." Maggie interrupted him quickly. "It's actually about that girl you used to hang around with all the time. Ondrea, was her name?"

"Ondina." Marcus corrected slowly, his instincts beginning to nudge at him. "Her name was Ondina, why do you ask?"

"No reason." Amber said quickly, attempting a reassuring smile which failed to reassure Marcus at all. "It's just… I thought you two were a couple. What happened?"

"She had to go somewhere." Marcus told them, his eyes narrowing. "Look, I really don't like talking about it. Was there anything else you wanted?"

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to make you upset." Maggie apologized. "It's just… you two seemed really happy whenever we saw you in here."

"We were." He said softly, wishing that this conversation would be over. He wasn't entirely sure just _why_ these three were so curious about Ondina, but he was certain nothing good could come from it. "We were very happy. But her… family… went on sort of a vacation for a while. So, we broke up. That's really all there is to it."

The café fell silent again, Marcus's thoughts drifting back to Ondina seemingly of their own accord. "Anyways, I need to finish cleaning up." He said, grabbing a clean rag and beginning to wipe down the bar. "Like I said, you three are free to go. I can handle this."

"Okay." Jess slowly pushed herself off the stool and the other two followed her example. "Oh, by the way, I… I don't think we will be coming in tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Marcus said dismissively, his thoughts elsewhere. "Take care you three."

"You too, Marcus." They told him, exiting the shop.

Silence once again fell over the café as Marcus toiled away at cleaning up. Almost ironically, the moment that he finished putting away the last of the glasses did his phone buzz in his pocket. He flipped it out of his pocket and unlocked it with practiced ease, barely noticing it. He dismissed the notification at first out of sheer habit. But, after putting his phone away once more, did he realize the significance of the alert. He ripped his phone out of his pocket once more and opened the app that had given him the alert. It was a lunar tracking app. He had gotten it to keep track of the full moons but he had not worried about such things in a very long time. But now, as he stared down at the full moon on his screen, he was immensely thankful for the app. "Well that settles that mystery." He breathed, rubbing his eyes. "Their first full moon since getting transformed. They are probably already feeling the effects."

Marcus's knowledge of how the full moon affected mermaids was limited at best. He had gotten a vague idea from Evie and the others, but for the most part, he was in the dark. A mermaid's first full moon was evidently a very important ordeal, and these three had no one to help guide them through it.

Marcus quickly exited the café and locked it glancing up at the sky and seeing the moon illuminated against the dark sky, night having already fallen. "Not good," he muttered to himself, rubbing his temples in an effort to better think of a solution to the problem which may or may not have presented itself. "Not good at all. If these three go outside… Scratch that, when they go outside the moon is going to pull them straight to Mako."

His decision was not a favorable one to him, nor was he entirely certain what the repercussions would be. But he was very certain that there was a good chance that they would not be good. He ran down to the docks and untied his own tinny from the dock, pushing the boat off and starting the outboard. It had been a while since he had been to Mako, but he knew that island better than almost anyone. He gunned the outboard and the boat shot forward towards Mako. As he drove, Marcus thought furiously on what to do. There was no guaranteed way to get to the Moon Pool other than the cliff entrance or the underwater one. The underwater entrance was most likely out of the question as the girls would inevitably use it. That left the cliff entrance which Marcus was wary of. His experience using that entrance was not a very good one for the most part.

But, as he pulled the boat onto Mako, Marcus quickly realized that neither entrance was possible or necessary. The three girls were standing on the beach, their eyes on the moon. Marcus slowly stepped out of the boat and onto the beach, wary. "Hey, you three alright?" He asked slowly.

"You should not be here." Maggie said, not even looking at him. "You do not belong here, land boy."

Marcus nearly smiled, and he would have if the situation did not seem so tense. It had been a very long time since he had been called 'land boy'. "Yeah, alright, cool." Marcus said, raising his hands slowly. "I get that and I will leave-."

"You are dangerous to the Moon Pool." Jess said. Like Maggie her eyes were fixed upon the moon.

"And dangers to the Pool must be dealt with." Amber finished. She was the first one to turn around and face him, raising her hand in his direction. The other two quickly followed suit.

Marcus may not have been a merman, but he did have a sensitivity to magic that lingered behind. Even if he didn't the raised hands and the glazed over expressions were telltale enough that something bad was going to happen.

In the blink of an eye clouds rolled in overhead with impossible quickness while thunder rumbles above. A heavy wind began to whip around Marcus, forcing him to raise his arms to protect his face. "You three need to wake up!" He shouted, "It's me, Marcus! It's the moon, it has you under its spell."

"Now leave." They spoke in unison. The winds picked up even more and Marcus felt his feet leave the ground.

"Oh hell." They were the last two words he managed to get out before he was swept away in the storm, being thrown about by the wind.


	7. Discovery

Marcus hurt all over. He hurt in places that he was not aware _could_ hurt. After being thrown into the air by the girls he had blacked out. He awoke on the beach of Mako, sand and seaweed covering his body. He cracked his eyes open and immediately regretted it when light flooded his vision. He groaned and covered his eyes with his hand as he sat up and popped the vertebrate in his neck. "What happened?" He asked of no one in particular.

"Oh, I imagine that they gave you quite the thrashing." An older woman said from behind Marcus, causing his head to spin around so fast it popped once again. He was on his feet in another instant, wary of the old woman immediately. She was standing on the sand, her hands clasped in front of her and a kindly expression on her face. "Oh, don't worry. They aren't around anymore. In fact, I would guess that they are waking up in the Moon Pool right now."

"How do you know about the Moon Pool?" Marcus demanded, not bothering to play dumb. He had the strangest feeling that it would not work on this woman anyways. "Who are you? What are you doing here? Are you-?"

"A mermaid?" The old woman asked softly, chuckling. "No, not frequently."

"Not frequently?" Marcus asked, confused. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Don't worry about it, for now." She smiled. "For now, I thought I might give you some advice."

"Advice?" Marcus repeated skeptically. "Lady, you don't even know me."

"Oh, you would be surprised what I know." She laughed. "For instance, I know that you were once a merman."

"H-how?" Marcus asked, fighting the urge to let his jaw drop in amazement. His apprehension and wariness of the woman had skyrocketed and now he was not sure if he should attack her and force her to reveal the source of her information or attempt to escape. Neither option seemed like it would have been possible for some reason. "How do you know that? And what did you do to the girls?!"

"I just know." The woman shrugged. "And I did nothing to the girls. What happened last night that was because of you."

"Because of me?" Marcus asked, frowning. "How?"

"Because of what you were." The woman said simply. "The Moon Pool was created from Old Magic, magic from the time of the mermaid and merman war. Now that the pod has left, it has called three more to watch over it in their absence. But, because of your past as a merman, it sensed you here last night and instructed those girls to defend it. You can see and feel the results."

"So, what, should I just stay away from Mako?" Marcus asked, throwing his hands up into the air and turning to face the ocean. For someone who claimed to be helpful, this woman was infuriating. He turned back to her, opening his mouth to ask another question, and stopped when he saw that she was gone. "Oh that is just _typical_." He snarled, kicking viciously at the sand.

He rubbed his hands across his face, dislodging the last remnants of sand from his skin, and turned to face the cliffs in the center of the island. The words of the old woman echoed in his mind and he gnawed his lip as he thought. If they truly were there, if they were waking up in the Moon Pool now, they would be scared. Most likely they would freak out, and he was not aware of how much of last night they remembered. He checked his watch and then gave another groan of despair. The watch face had shattered and was now filled with sand and water, almost assuredly broken. He was by no means able to accurately tell the time from the sun's position but he assumed that it was still early in the morning. He turned back towards the sea and wondered abstractly where his boat had gone before coming to a decision. He began his trek towards the cliffs he had not climbed in many a month, picking his way through the jungle with ease. The path had been ingrained into his mind after so many trips through and, to his pleasure and relief, he came across the familiar rock face. At the top of the cliffs, where the entrance to the Moon Pool was, he knew that his coil of climbing rope was still there.

Though it had been a while since he had climbed them, the journey up the cliffs was still familiar enough to be easy. He was at the top in no time, crawling across the rock and peering down into the Moon Pool. True to the old woman's words, he saw the form of three mermaids lying in the water at the bottom of the cave. "If you attack me again, I swear, you are fired." Marcus muttered, tossing the climbing rope into the cave and beginning his descent. His skin grew uncomfortably hot the closer he got the Moon Pool, but it was by no means unmanageable. He swung over to the side of the Pool and landed lightly on the stone. None of the girls was within arm's reach and as such he had to settle with shouting, "Hey!" In an effort to wake them up.

Suffice to say, it worked. The three shot up, drawing up deep, rasping breaths in unison. They blinked several times, clearly confused, and turned to look at one another for an explanation. "Glad to see that you three are finally awake." Marcus said, taking a seat at the edge of the pool and crossing his legs. "First full moon is always the hardest, trust me."

"M-Marcus?!" Amber asked in horror, glancing down to her tail. "What-how-?!"

"Easy, easy, easy." Marcus said, patting the air soothingly. "You three are safe, you have to trust me. I'm not going to turn you in, or anything like that."

"How are you here?!" Jess demanded, her voice just as fear-filled as Amber's. "How?!"

"It's not the first time I've been to the Moon Pool." Marcus said with a slight smile and shrug. "I found it about a year or so ago, probably in the same way you three did. By accident."

"But... If you found the Moon Pool like us…" Maggie said, her eyes narrowing and glancing down to the water.

Marcus had no problem following her train of thought. "No, not quite." He said gently. "Not anymore. It… it's a long story. Look, this is not the place for this conversation. You three had quite a night."

Marcus stood up and grabbed the rope, making to climb, when Jess spoke up again. "Wait, last night, did we… did we attack you?"

"So you remember that?" Marcus laughed, ignoring the pain in his limbs caused by the mermaids. "Yeah, don't worry about it though. Ondina put me through a _lot_ worse than that."

"Ondina?" Maggie asked uncertainly, clearly recognizing the name. "Wait, wasn't she your girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend, and mermaid." Marcus nodded. He grinned at the baffled and shocked looks on their faces and rolled his eyes. "You three are _so_ lucky that she isn't here right now. Locking the door with magic like that? You really have to start being discreet. Land people might not be very observant magic, but they aren't completely stupid."

"How long have you known?" Amber wondered, "About us?"

"About an hour after you got into the shop on that first day." Marcus admitted. "That's why I hired you like I did. I had to keep an eye on you."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Maggie demanded, clearly affronted at being manipulated like they had been. "Why bother to let us freak out like this? If your girlfriend was a mermaid, you could have helped us! We have been _freaking out!_ We never asked for this, and you _knew_?!"

Marcus waited for her to finish her rant, looking to the other two and seeing agreement on their faces. He released the rope and retook his seat by the side of the Moon Pool. "When I fell into the Moon Pool, I was just as terrified as you were." He told them. "The difference was that, well, after a misunderstanding I sort of thought that the other mermaids were trying to kill me. Or at least poison me. But, anyway, they somehow knew about my secret the whole time. They let me think that they didn't, that I was being sneaky, for a while. At least until they decided they could trust me. I didn't tell you three I knew because, well, I thought that you might not trust _me._ I mean, it would have freaked you if I had called you out on it the day that you entered the café, right? So I kept quiet, helping you behind the scenes when you needed it, keeping you away from water."

"Is there any way to reverse this?" Amber asked hesitantly. "For us to lose our powers? How did you lose yours?"

"I'm… not really sure." Marcus admitted quietly. He thought back to the fateful night and the storm he had caused, and shivered at the memory. "I don't think so. There might be a spell or something in the library at my house, but if there is I haven't read it. And I have read almost everything there."

"What about not transforming when we get water on us?" Maggie asked hopefully. "Any way to stop that?"

Marcus laughed, the first genuine note of happiness he had made in a long time. "Sorry," He said, chuckling and feeling slightly bad about the looks of anger on their faces. "I don't mean to laugh. But I went through the same thing. I hated getting showers, it was terrible."

"There really is no way?" Jess asked, despair in her voice. "I'm on the swim team, I have to be there the trials!"

"Sorry, again, but you aren't on the swim team anymore." Marcus told her. A gentle buzzing in his pocket caused him to start and he, amazedly, pulled his phone from his pocket and cancelled the notification. When he looked up the girls were against the opposite end of the Moon Pool, clearly ready to flee at a moment's notice. "Whoa, easy, just had a text. The delivery driver is at the café and wanted to know where to put the deliveries since I am not there."

"Put the phone away." Jess commanded, raising an arm threateningly. "Or else."

"If you are going to threaten me, at least try harder." Marcus rolled his eyes and stored his phone back into his pocket, "You probably have the magical equivalent of a young one. Maybe less, they are used to magic. You aren't."

"What do we do?" Jess asked, clearly yearning for some sort of guidance.

Marcus took a moment to consider this. "Meet me at the café." He said finally. "We still have work to do. We will close early and I will show you the grotto. After that, I'll try to teach you what I can. That should be enough, at least until the pod gets back and they can take you in."

"The pod?" Amber asked, uncertain.

"The mermaids who live around Mako." Marcus said, rising once more and grasping the climbing rope firmly in his hands. "Don't worry, they are kind. Mostly. Veridia can be sort of mean."


	8. Lesson One

"No way." Jess breathed as she descended the final step that led to the grotto, her eyes wide and filled with disbelief as she cast her gaze around the cave. The other two echoed the sentiment, their eyes just as awe-filled as their friend. Marcus hid a smile at their faces, not wanting to tease them when they were so overwhelmed. Plenty of time for that later. "This place is crazy."

"You have no idea." He laughed quietly, picking up a diamond necklace that had fallen to the floor and tossing it absentmindedly into a pile of very old gold doubloons. He turned their gaze back to the girls and immediately registered that their faces had gone from shock and awe to suspicion and confusion. "Something on your mind?" He asked curiously.

"Is this all yours?" Amber inquired innocently. Marcus inspected her through slightly narrowed eyes but, upon finding no traces of greed in her expression, shrugged and shook his head. "Not really, it belongs to Rita Santos. The principal."

"Wait- is she a mermaid too?" Maggie asked breathlessly, her eyes filling with wonder once more. "Really?"

"I might be really rich, but my finances are in stocks not treasure." Marcus shrugged, taking a seat on the couch and gesturing for the girls to do the same. "I assume that you have more questions?"

"Only about a million." Amber said in confirmation, taking the proffered seat. The other two sat down on either side of her, eyes still roaming around the grotto. "What is this place?"

"We call it the grotto." Sevan answered. "It's sort of… sort of a place you can be yourselves. You saw the bookshelf and the book you need to pull to activate it, make yourselves comfortable whenever you want. Just watch the cat, he is evil."

As if on cue Poseidon jumped onto the table and batted playfully at Marcus's shoe. Maggie cooed at the white cat and gathered him into her arms, pressing her face against his white coat and speaking to him in a soft voice. Poseidon's purring was audible even from where Marcus was sitting, causing him to roll his eyes and scowl. "Stupid cat." He grumbled.

"Aww, Marcus," Maggie said, cooing at him in the same tone. "Did you want me to scratch your head too?"

"I'll bite your hand off." He said moodily, leaning back in his chair. "Or throw water at you."

That seemed to have more of an effect than he had expected. The girls exchanged wary glances, as if they were preparing to flee at a moment's notice. "Please don't." Jess said politely. "It takes forever for us to get our legs back."

"Really?" Marcus asked, surprised. He rolled his eyes then at his own stupidity and sighed good-naturedly. "That's right, completely new to all this. Probably didn't even know how to fast dry your tail."

"Fast dry them?" Amber asked eagerly. "How?"

"Easy, easy." Marcus said, patting the air with his palms. "One step at a time. First things first, what do you know how to do right now?"

"I can move objects, kinda." Maggie volunteered.

"We all can, at least somewhat." Amber added.

"I accidentally froze the food in my refrigerator at home." Jess put in guiltily. "My parents blamed the repairman. I felt so bad."

"Yes, well, other than your getting someone fired that isn't bad progress." Sevan said mildly, contemplating this information. "I guess first things first would be teaching you how to swim… but that could be interesting."

"We know how to swim." Maggie interjected lightly.

"Oh yeah?" Marcus asked, grinning. "Is that so? Then why did you wait for me to get the boat back after we finished talking in the Moon Pool? If you could swim like a real mermaid, you would have beaten me back to the café by half an hour at least."

"Wait, how?" Jess asked, confusedly.

"Speed swimming." Marcus said, shrugging. "Mermaids can move through water faster than even the fastest boat. I would say that is where we should start first, tonight preferably. Unless you have something else to do?"

When the girls shook their heads no in unison he smiled and rose from his seat. Poseidon shot him a look of loathing when the girls got up and slunk away, presumably to take vengeance on Marcus in some form. He made a mental note to watch his back around the vindictive cat. "Alright, be right back." He said, darting up the stairs.

He returned a few minutes later in swim trunks rather than his café uniform. The girls looked at him warily as he pushed past them and stood by the sea entrance. "You three coming?" He asked curiously. "It's dark out, but the moon is still pretty full. Plenty of light to swim by."

"Yeah it's just…" Maggie's voice trailed off as she bit her lip. "We usually swim by ourselves, I don't know. It feels weird to swim with a guy while we have tails."

"Mermaids." He grumbled, shaking his head. "No matter how long you have your tails for, you are all the same. Difficult. Look, this is just…" His voice trailed off as he considered a factor he had not thought of.

Not missing the hesitation, Amber narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Nothing." Marcus said quickly, shoving his hands into the pocket of his swimsuit. "It's just… I can't breathe underwater. Not without help."

"What does that mean?" Jess asked, curious in spite of herself.

"Look, there are a lot of things about being a mermaid that I don't really understand." Marcus said warily, not at all wanting to have this conversation. "You can just figure out the speed swimming thing on your own, it probably won't take you too long. Most likely."

"Oh no." Amber said, stepping forward and poking him in the chest. "No more secrets from you, since you know all of ours."

"Uh, I don't recall ever agreeing to these terms." Marcus said mildly, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, everyone has some secrets."

"Well not us." Maggie said, coming to stand beside Amber and crossing her arms. "From now on the four of us will be completely open with one another, fair enough? If the moon can do that much to us, we have to be honest."

"Agreed." Jess said, nodding as she stood beside Maggie. "We have to trust one another."

They looked at him expectantly, as though waiting for him to voice his own agreeance that they had basically just assumed for themselves. "Fine, fine." He said shrugging with a resigned sigh. "My name is Marcus White, I am a multi-millionaire, and a former merman. Happy?"

"Very funny." Amber said glaring at him. When Marcus looked at her with zero antagonism she recoiled slightly. "Wait, are you seriously a millionaire?"

"Yeah." Marcus said uncomfortably. "Can we not talk about that though?"

"Okay, what was it you didn't want to talk about earlier then?" Maggie asked slyly, smiling at him.

"Not what I meant as a subject change." Marcus was now all too aware that he was backed against a metaphorical wall. If he wanted their trust he had to tell them such things like the fact that a mermaid's kiss temporarily offered the ability to breathe underwater. If he thought he could get away, he would but he doubted that such an escape was possible, particularly when they had him enclosed on all directions and his heels were against the edge of the sea entrance. "Fine. Look, I can't breathe underwater. You can."

"Okay, so what?" Maggie asked slowly.

" _So_ there is a way around that, but it's not exactly… well it will sort of sound bad." Marcus mumbled, totally uncomfortable now.

"If you don't spit it out I am going to start assuming that it is something completely awful." Amber threatened, poking him in the chest again. "Talk."

"Jeez, pushy much?" Marcus said, swiping her hand away irritably. "Fine. A mermaid's kiss has the power to save a man from drowning. At least, temporarily. The effects go away after about an hour or so."

"That's it?" Jess scoffed, placing her hands on his chest and shoving him backwards.

Not expecting this, Marcus fell backwards into the water. He glared up at the girls, all of whom were slightly obscured by the bubbles caused in his fall. A few moments later three splashes joined him in the water and the familiar magical shimmer that caused them to grow their tails went off. Marcus swam for the surface and spit out a mouthful of water, just as three heads broke the surface around him. "Next time, a warning." Marcus said, glaring at Jess as he treaded water. He glanced down at their tails and a nostalgic grin broke out over his face. "But I gotta say, it is nice to swim with mermaids again. You'll see, there isn't much quite like seeing the world like we… like _you_ can. Trust me on that, it's amazing."

"Well let's go then!" Maggie said, taking his hand and giving it a gentle tug. "Show us how to speed swim!"

She moved forward like she was about to kiss him and he raised a hand. "The kiss has to be underwater." He said quickly with an apologetic smile. "Learned that one the hard way."

The three girls quickly submerged and Marcus followed them under, sharing a kiss with Maggie when he was only a few feet below the surface. It was a quick, impassionate kiss but it was enough for the literal magic to take place. He took a breath and smiled once more as his lungs easily handled the influx of water. It had been too long since he had felt the water like this, like he actually belonged in this world once more. But the moment of nostalgia and remembrance passed by quickly enough and the girls were pulling him along as they made their way out of the sea entrance. _I am not going to want to go to work tomorrow._ Marcus reflected as they entered the open sea, the light of the moon casting pale light on the ocean floor.


	9. Lesson Two

"Yeah, that should be good enough for today ladies," Marcus said, wiping sweat from his brow. This was not from any sort of exertion, rather it was from his continued experiments to try and understand the girls' powers. They were not like any of the _actual_ mermaids' powers. It seemed as though each girl had a different specialty. Jess was able to freeze water and seemingly had control of all things ice-related. Amber was able to manipulate water in its normal form far better than the other two. Maggie was able to heat all forms of water with ridiculous ease. As near as Marcus could tell there _were_ some abilities that all three of them possessed, but they also seemed to specialize when it came to the various magical uses for water.

"That was so much fun!" Maggie said happily. "Heating my tail to get the water off of it is going to be _so_ helpful!"

"Just remember that using it pretty much means that you are somewhere that you don't want to have a tail in," Marcus reminded them, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He had been working around the clock between teaching them, reading as much as he could about mermaids and their connection to the moon, running the café, and now school. He was very quickly reaching his limit as he had not slept in three days and prior to that it had only been a brief two hour nap. But he did not complain, would not, because he knew how important getting those three caught up to speed was. "Try not to use it for a while unless I'm around. Trust me, it can go south really quick."

"How will we learn if we don't practice though?" Amber asked innocently.

"You can practice in here as much as you'd like," Marcus told her firmly. "Where I can help out if something goes wrong."

"We've been doing these lessons every day for _three_ weeks!" Jess protested lightly. "Don't you think that we have earned a little bit of respect? You even said we are doing well."

"Unfortunately me saying that is kind of relative," Marcus said easily. "I know more than you, a lot more, about the whole mermaid thing. But I am still not the ruling body on it, that would be the Mako council."

"And you have no idea when they will be back?" Maggie asked sadly. "Not even a clue?"

He didn't. Once this whole three new mermaid thing had happened he had done everything he could to reach out to them and contact them. He had even gone as far to contact Erik. It had been a long shot, but the merman had been at Marcus's island. Evidently he had made himself quite at home there and was quite happy to hear from Marcus. Once Marcus had explained the situation he had quickly offered his services. The merman had no idea where the pod was, but he swore to go searching for them. Marcus had thanked him and hung up. It was something, but he really had no hope for it. The ocean was a massive place and Erik had very little idea of where the pod would be. Let alone if they would believe him.

"I wish they were back too," he told them sincerely. "They are a lot better suited to teaching you about all of this than I am, trust me. But I am doing what I can. You three don't have to listen to me, I can't really stop you if you don't, but please believe me that I am trying to look out for you as best I can here."

"We know you are," Amber said softly, in a rare moment of compassion. "We've seen how tired you look. When is the last time you slept?"

"I can't really remember," Marcus admitted, rubbing his eyes once more. "Three days ago, I think? Something like that."

"You need to sleep!" Maggie said, horrified. "How are you even functioning?"

"Copious amounts of coffee, energy drinks, and some plant root Rita had that prevents the body from sleeping," Marcus said, looking for the plant in question. It was better than any energy drink, but also rather dangerous from what Rita's notes told him. Taking too much had the exact opposite effect he wanted and would knock him out for several days at least. "I'm fine. Really."

"The bags under your eyes and the way you wobble when you walk say otherwise," Jess said firmly. "Come on, we have no school tomorrow. Get some sleep, you aren't any use to us if you die from doing something while sleep deprived. You said yourself that a lot of these plants down here are dangerous."

"I'm really fine," Marcus argued blearily, narrowing his eyes. He had passed the point of being irritable and sleep deprived and was at the point where arguing only gave him a headache. "Just a bit more reading to do. Besides, I have the store."

"You nearly dumped a drink on a customer today because you almost passed out while walking," Amber reminded him, her tone of compassion now gone. Back to the very stubborn Amber it seemed. "If I hadn't been there you would have."

"That was one time," Marcus insisted.

"Okay, no more arguing," Amber said firmly. She gestured to the two girls. "We are going to take over running the store tomorrow. We know enough about it to make sure things go smoothly. You are going to take tomorrow off and catch up on sleep."

"No, I-." He began. Jess stepped forward and placed her hand against his mouth, muffling and cutting off his words.

"No, no," she said with as much confidence as Amber. "She is right. You have been doing way too much lately you _need_ to get some sleep."

He didn't bother arguing. In a very ironic way, he recognized the tone that they were using. It was familiar, very much so. The same tone that Ondina would use when her mind was set on something well and truly. Whenever she got that tone he knew that he would not win any ensuing argument and often elected to simply go along with whatever she had in mind. Strangely enough he had the distinct sense that those three would be the exact same way. "Fine," he said finally. "But if something happens _call me_."

"Fine," Amber agreed. "Now get some sleep. We'll swing by tomorrow after work to check on you."

The three mermaids bade him farewell and made their way out of the grotto. He laid down on one of the couches and put a pillow behind his head, breathing a loud sigh of relief. His body briefly protested the inaction but soon it relaxed its pressure. He had just managed to doze off when the sound of someone chuckling woke him up. He opened his eyes and shot into a sitting position, his eyes searching for the source and quickly finding it. The old woman from the shores of Mako was sitting in a chair opposite him, smiling. "Hello there, Marcus," she said pleasantly as though nothing was wrong. "How are you doing?"

"Lady, how the hell did you find this place?" He demanded, ignoring the pleasantry. "More importantly how did you get in without me noticing?"

"Oh, there are quite a few lessons in magic I am sure that you never learned," she laughed. "But that is a conversation for another time. I thought I would come to speak to you about those three young girls."

"You know, I am sure that they would love for you to speak to them directly," he said irritably. "No need to make me the middle man."

"While I do understand your hesitation, what I have to say is concerning them but it is not necessarily for them to know," the woman said mysteriously. "The difference is very important. Now, to get to business. Do you remember what I told you regarding them?"

"Yeah, you said that they got their powers because of me." Marcus recalled. "What of it?"

"I fear that I was mistaken," she said. "You may have been an attributing factor, but you are not the reason that they were called to the Moon Pool to protect it."

"Well then what is the reason?" Marcus frowned. Her reasoning before had made perfect sense. The Moon Pool _did_ look after itself so it calling those three to it was not outside the bounds of possibility. "Because I've been keeping away from that place lately. Doesn't seem to like me very much."

"I think that, perhaps, that may change soon," the woman said in a very somber tone. "To answer your question, I do not know the reason that they were called. What I do know is that something is coming, something very evil. What that may be, I could not begin to guess. The Moon Pool has not yet seen fit to show me that much."

"Wait a minute," Marcus said slowly. "What do you mean 'seen fit to show me'? Can you speak to the freaking Moon Pool?"

"Not speak, no," she corrected. "It is more like the Pool gives me images. That is how I know it no longer sees you as a danger. It simply does not see a reason to return to you your powers."

Marcus closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands for a moment. "Alright," he said through his fingers. "Fine. Let's say I believe you. If I'm not the bad guy, what is? And how do I speak to the Moon Pool without it burning me?"

He waited for a response before looking up and seeing that he was quite alone. The old woman had vanished.


	10. Veridia

It had been quite some time since Marcus had gone back to the Moon Pool for his own reasons. Usually, in recent times, whenever he had gone there it had been to help someone or to figure out something for someone. But this time was different, this time it was his own reasons for going. He stepped foot onto the island after having anchored the boat several yards offshore to account for the outgoing tide. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, preparing himself for whatever was about to come his way. Very slowly he made his way to the cliffs that led to the hole above the Moon Pool, moving almost in a trancelike state. The climb was beyond simple for him and he made it up in no time.

Only when his feet hit the stone floor surrounding the Moon Pool did Marcus finally speak. "You owe me something," he began, not at all feeling foolish at speaking to water. He knew that the Moon Pool was more than capable of understanding. "An explanation, my tail back, _something_! You can't just throw something like this at me and expect me to fall in line like a good little soldier. So, here is what I am going to do. I am going to sit here and not move until I get some damn explanations from you."

He had fully been expecting to stay there for several hours, perhaps even days, until he got an answer. But almost as soon as he had finished a familiar old laugh came from somewhere to his right. He glanced over and saw the old woman smiling at him. "I suppose that we should have expected this from you."

Marcus narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't want to talk to a ghost," he said coldly. "I did a little digging on you. Wasn't that hard, public records are easy enough to find and they're all online. That includes obituaries and death certificates. You died some time ago. Why did the Moon Pool bring you back?"

This seemed to trouble the woman quite a lot. Her normal motherly grin faltered and a sad look fell over her face. "Again, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," she said. "Yes, I am dead. But my spirit still serves the Moon Pool."

"So you are a slave?" Marcus asked, disbelief in his tone.

The old woman shook her head vigorously. "No! I want to serve the Moon Pool, it gave me so much when I was alive it is only fitting that I serve it in death."

"Fine, whatever," Marcus waved a hand dismissively. "That's your business, not mine. But those three girls, they _are_ my business. You said that something is coming, and I am guessing that is nothing good. If push comes to shove, I can't push back! I can't do anything to help them and they're about as good as a young one at using magic. Whatever you are planning either give me a way to help them, really help them, or you can forget me helping them any further. I won't do something that will get them hurt or killed."

"One might say that you owe the Moon Pool-."

"OWE THE MOON POOL?!" Marcus roared, jabbing a finger at the water. "Owe it for what? For taking the woman I loved from me? For making me its puppet in a battle against the merman chamber? For taking my tail from me? For leaving me with three girls who have no idea how to be a mermaid and expecting my limited knowledge to be able to offer them any real help!"

"You are upset." She observed.

"Brilliant deduction Sherlock, really." Marcus said dryly.

"It is justifiable for you to be such." She said finally. "I believe you are a genuinely good soul, Marcus. Truly. Please, sit by the water with me."

She took a seat and placed her feet in the water. Unsurprisingly there were no ripples from her feet entering the water. He sat beside her and she smiled encouragingly. "Place your feet in the water."

Marcus shook his head. "I'd rather not." He said. "The Moon Pool isn't my biggest fan right now."

"Please, humor me," she said.

Warily, Marcus dipped one leg into the water and waited for the inevitable burning sensation to come tearing up his leg. To his shock, however, there was none forthcoming. He slipped the other leg into the water as well. "Okay…" He said slowly, glancing at the old woman for some explanation.

"The Moon Pool has no animosity towards you, Marcus." She told him sincerely. "It never did, not really. It simply thought that you getting your powers back would have been a step in the wrong direction. Perhaps the merman chamber would have made another attempt to make you its pawn."

Marcus processed this, nodding after a few moments. It made sense. The old woman continued then. "However your arguments make sense. You find yourself in a unique position. A former merman with no powers and no tail attempting to teach new mermaids how to use their powers." She paused for a moment, staring into the water's depths. "I believe that we may able to come to some arrangement."

Back on the mainland, in the café, the three mermaids in question were closing up the café. Marcus had left the juice shop rather suddenly, saying that he had something that he needed to do. The three had seen the serious expression on his face for the majority of the day, very different from the usual rueful grin he wore. They had been planning on asking him what was troubling him but he had left before they had the chance. "Do you think he's okay?" Amber asked.

"I hope so," Maggie said, frowning. "Where do you think he went?"

"Who knows?" Amber said. "He does his own thing, always has."

"Are you talking about Marcus?" Jess asked, returning from the back room with a box in her arms. "You two are worried too, right?"

"Yeah, we are." Maggie said. "He just seemed so off today. Do you think something happened with the pod?"

Amber had been about to answer when a laugh came from behind them at the bar. They whirled on the spot, and stopped short when they could not identify the source of the noise. They exchanged a confused look when a woman shimmered into visibility. She was garbed in a silvery dress and was leaning one arm on the bar as she smiled at them. "Hello ladies," she said.

All three of them immediately made the connection, their mouths dropping open in shock. "You're a mermaid!" Amber said.

"I am," she smiled. She waved a hand and three chairs turned around behind the girls. "Please, sit. I am sure you have questions for me."

Amber did no such thing, glaring suspiciously at the newcomer. "Who are you?" she challenged.

The older mermaid looked suitably abashed and nodded. "Forgive me for being impolite, my name is Veridia."

"The Mermaid Council leader?" Maggie asked disbelievingly. "I thought you were with the pod?"

"And so I was," she nodded. "However I sensed something amiss in the magic of the Moon Pool some time ago so I returned. I've been watching you four for some time now. You should be proud of how far you've come."

"Why haven't you shown yourself until now?" Amber asked, still clearly suspicious.

"Because I am sure that seeing me would not have been good for Marcus, and I wanted to see what sort of people you were first." Veridia said simply. "Were you the kind who abused your power I would have taken it from you. I now know that you are not. We have much to discuss, ladies."

"Like what?" Jess asked.

"Like getting Marcus his tail back."


	11. Return

The pod emerged from the water almost perfectly in sync, all of them gazing towards Mako with eyes full of happiness. Finally, after two years away, they were home again. Zac, Mimi, Ondina, Chris, David, Evie, and Sirena enjoyed the sight for a few minutes as well but they slipped away after a bit. They raced to Rita's grotto, all of them grinning and eager to see Marcus once more and surprise their favorite land-boy. Ondina was the first to surface in the grotto, expecting to see Marcus sitting on the stone couch with a book in hand. But the grotto appeared empty. The others appeared a few moments later, and soon enough all of them had dried themselves off and were standing unsteadily on legs.

"Whoa," Zac said, grabbing onto the edge of the couch for support. "Not used to that."

"It's been a while since we've used our legs," Mimi reminded him, gazing around the grotto.

Now that they had a better view of the place a feeling of unease began to spread over them. The grotto seemed to be in a state of uncleanliness, which was disconcerting as they all knew that Marcus was something of a neat freak. A fine layer of dust coated everything from the couch to the treasures that Rita had accumulated. "Poseidon?" Evie called hesitantly, glancing around the space. "Here kitty, kitty!"

"Maybe he's upstairs?" Sirena offered, but her tone betrayed her doubt.

"You don't think Marcus left, do you?" David asked. Evie, Mimi, and Sirena all sent him the same look of warning before glancing to Ondina and he rapidly changed his tone. "I mean, of course he hasn't. Probably just got tired of being here all the time. Not much to do of course."

If Ondina heard him, she gave no indication of this. She made her way up the stairs with the others following closely behind. "Yeah, David's right," Evie said encouragingly. "He's probably at the café, it's the middle of the day."

"Right," Ondina said, nodding.

The rest of the house matched the grotto, dust lining everything, and Poseidon's feed and water bowls were missing as well. Ondina made her way into Marcus's bedroom and found something that worried her even more. Marcus's bed, which was unfailingly tidy, was unmade and the sheets were thrown off it haphazardly. He clearly had left in a rushed state otherwise the bed would be made. A layer of dust coated the sheets as well and Ondina felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Zac smiling encouragingly at her. "Don't worry," he told her confidently. "You know how Marcus is, there is a good reason he hasn't been here in a while. Evie's right, I am sure he is at the café. Let's go."

David led the way to the café, a much lighter mood happening upon the group when they saw the lights on in the café. "Told you so," David said smugly, striding across the boardwalk planks that led to his shop.

The doors slid open to the café and, standing behind the café with a glass in front of him as he wiped it clean, was Marcus. He glanced up at the sound of people entering the café and smiled. A sudden sense of wariness gripped Ondina as the grin stretched across his face. Something wasn't normal about it, wasn't _Marcus_. "I was wondering when you guys would be back," he said, setting the glass down on the counter and striding out from behind the bar. "Was beginning to wonder if maybe you had decided to stay away from Mako."

The words were said in Marcus's voice, but something seemed missing. There was none of his usual antagonism, in fact there was almost no inflection behind his voice at all. The words were as dead as his smile. He spread his arms before Ondina, inviting her in for a hug. "I missed you, Ondina," he said.

A thousand expectations had gone through Ondina's mind throughout the time they had been gone as to what Marcus would say to her when she returned, but only in her dreams had she expected him to seemingly forgive her for leaving so easily. She took a step forward and her arms extended towards him, intending to embrace him, when a shout from behind her startled her into stepping back. "STOP!" a girl that Ondina did not know roared, her arms extended towards Marcus.

An almost inhuman hissing sound issued from Marcus's throat as the force of her magic knocked him to the ground and pushed him several feet away. Once he stopped sliding he leapt to his feet and shot a murderous glare at the newcomer. Two more girls appeared at her side seemingly from nowhere and they extended their hands as well. Uncertain of what was happening, the original Mako crew were captivated by the exchange. Thankfully, sensing something was very wrong, they did not intervene in the confrontation.

"You three are continuing to be significant thorns in my side," Marcus said, dusting off his shirt and shoving his left hand in the pocket of his pants. "You will suffer for your interference one day, that I promise you. But, for now, enjoy this victory. You haven't many left."

"Marcus, what's going on?" Ondina asked, desperate to make some sense of the situation. It was clear that the three girls who had just appeared had magic at their disposal, but she had certainly never seen them before in her life.

"Ah, Ondina," he said, his tone biting. "I had hoped that your affections for me would make you a prime target. Ah well, there is always next time."

Marcus winked at the group and snapped his fingers, disappearing in an instant. Ondina's hand immediately went up and she attempted to throw off the invisibility spell he was clearly using. But he did not reappear as she intended. "Don't bother," one of the girls said tiredly, sitting heavily on a chair. "He isn't invisible, he teleported."

The other two took up seats beside her and buried their faces in their hands, clearly exhausted. "Wait, I know you three," Zac said, shocked. "Maggie? Jess? Amber?"

"Hey there Zac," Amber said with a tired smile. "Welcome back."

"What's going on?" Evie demanded, taking a seat opposite of them. "How did Marcus get his powers back?"

The three exchanged knowing looks and nodded in unison. "Take a seat," Maggie advised them, gesturing to the chairs still vacant. "It's quite the story and it will take some time."

The mermaids and mermen did just that, circling around the three new girls with looks varying from interest to wariness to downright mistrust. With a collective deep breath the three mermaids delved into their tale, explaining how they had come to get their tails and how they had come to meet Marcus. The mistrust melted away from those listening and even a few tentative smiles began to form. They laughed quietly at several points, and rolled their eyes at others, until the girls grew quiet. "That's when _she_ came," Maggie said bitterly.

"She?" Evie repeated curiously. "Who is she?"

"Aurora," Amber said quietly, her eyes speaking volumes of her loathing.

"Or, as she said when we first met her, Veridia," Jess added. "That's how she introduced herself. She said that she wanted to help Marcus get his tail back."

"But Veridia was with us…" Zac said slowly, "How would she-?"

"We didn't know," Jess snapped, the same question having haunted her for the better part of a year now. "She made up some story about how she felt some magical disturbance at Mako and came back early."

"So what happened to Marcus?" Ondina snapped, desperate and terrified to hear the answer.

"We kinda knew Marcus from school," Jess said slowly. "When you guys left he was really depressed. We thought that if we got him his tail back he would be a lot happier. We…"

"We owed him," Amber said simply. "He saved us, all three of us, on so many levels. We were so clueless about the whole mermaid thing. He just sort of took us under his wing and devoted everything to helping us get a better hold of our powers."

"And it worked!" Maggie jumped in. "He taught us so much about using our powers, he even got us past the thing where the Moon takes over us. But then Aurora happened."

"What did she do?" David asked in a hushed voice.

"She told us about the Mako merman chamber," Remorse flooded Amber's voice and face. "Marcus had briefly told us about it and basically told us we should avoid it at all costs. But Aurora kept after us about it, kept reminding us about how much Marcus had helped us."

"And you believed her?!" Ondina demanded, slamming a hand down on the table. "Even after Marcus warned you?!"

"You weren't there!" Maggie shouted back, half-rising from her seat. "You didn't see him! He wasn't sleeping, he was barely eating! Every second of the day he wasn't helping us he was reading those books in the grotto or tending to the café!"

That seemed to put Ondina back on her heels a bit and Amber pressed the advantage, though not quite as loud as Maggie. "So when Aurora offered us a way to help him, yeah, we took it! She gave us this weird bracelet thing and told us to make sure he wore it all the time and that, in time, his magic would come back to him. We did, and for a while things were okay."

"But we started to notice things going… wrong," Jess explained. "Like, he didn't really seem to be himself. He antagonized customers who got on his nerves, seemed to not care what others thought of him on a scary level, and altogether just kind of stopped caring. After that he got mean, like, really mean."

"We kind of felt something was wrong but it was too late. We tried to take away the bracelet, but it didn't matter. Aurora's spell had done its damage. The Marcus we knew was gone and all that was left was the twisted version that Aurora had control of."

"Wait, she has control of him?" Zac asked, shocked. "How?"

"Well, it might not be _control_ , per se, but he seems to listen to her." Amber said uncomfortably. "We don't really know the extent of it. Every time he shows up, usually something bad happens. We've been taking turns for the past three months watching the Moon Pool after he tried to destroy it one full moon."

"He tried to destroy the Moon Pool?!" Rita asked, thoroughly shocking the group as they had been so engrossed in the story that they did not hear he approach.

"Ms. Santos!" Amber exclaimed. She caught herself and then shook her head slowly. "We think so. We found him there one night and just assumed that's what he was doing because the entire Pool was shaking. We managed to stop him and he seemed really upset about it."

"Yes, I was just in the Moon Pool with the rest of the council," the older mermaid said gravely. "We sensed something amiss there, gravely amiss, and your story corroborates that. I am not sure what Aurora has done to Marcus, but rest assured it cannot be good. And since the pod has returned I can only assume that their plans will become even more desperate."

"Desperate?" Zac repeated. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, Zac, that Aurora has likely been stripped of her tail from her battle with Nerissa," Rita said simply. "The Moon Pool sent the council a large amount of what I can only call information and from that we can only draw that conclusion. If I am not mistaken, Aurora is using Marcus as a weapon in order to return her tail to her so that she can once again attempt to rule Mako.


End file.
